Advertorials- The ads you like to read!
October 14th, 2013 • COMM464, EMarketing
Thinking about ads especially the banner ads in the mobile space often brings a sense of caution in me and I carefully make sure that I avoid clicking on the ads. I inadvertently do click them thanks to my “fat finger syndrome” but I soon after close the window and continue on with my browsing.
But what if there was an advertisement that I would seek out to read and would enjoy having it interspersed on the web page? What if this ad had the right tone and fit well with the content of the website. Such ads have been around for a long time and were called advertorials in the past. Now known as sponsored content or native advertising, this “signifies advertising that is meant to match the style readers are used to in the pages of their favourite publication or website”. Marketers partner with media companies to nestle their ad messages among that desirable content of the website.
But how does a website like Buzzfeed manage to use native advertising effectively but Gawker’s advertising is not appealing?
In my opinion, it comes back to following monitoring, listening and conversing procedures. Buzzfeed introduces ads only after carefully understanding what the audience converses about and what articles are popular with the audience. Also, in order to ensure that the advertising is authentic and effective, it has a dedicated team to make sure the branded content has the right tone. Transparency is also important: the advertised content is highlighted and advertiser’s name is mentioned.
Buzzfeed’s advertising model is this: it aids in creating content that looks like Buzzfeed editorial content and runs these sponsored ads on Buzzfeed.com. Because, these ads as mentioned previously are original, unexpected and authentic Buzzfeed’s sell is that its audience will share content around social networks, giving advertisers the much coveted “earned media.”
The only issue with this is that there is little scope for automation in this process. Curating ads and choosing the right set is a painstaking process in authentic native advertising as evidenced by the dedicated team that Buzzfeed maintains. But the returns are high and the ads are much more credible and have a potential to go viral if native advertising is used effectively.